50+ Enhancements

[Psiphon]

Hi all, 

I've been playing for a long time but don't really look at builds which may be why I haven't known about 50+ Enhancements. 

When did this happen and what are the details behind them? 

 

[Hedgefund]

Someone else will have to answer the "when", I don't know exactly but they've been on HC from the start.  I have a hunch they were part of vet rewards on live but that's only a hunch.

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Enhancement_Booster_Salvage

 

Boosters don't drop from any normal content so you can buy them the AH with inf or the merit vendor with merits.  The article mentions "occasional drops" but I have never once had them drop from anything.  Regardless that link should tell you what you need to know.

[Zect]

They were available on live after coh went f2p in Sep 2011 from the Paragon Market cash shop, both directly and as a possible drop from super packs (which also came from the Paragon Market). I don’t recall offhand if they were available from the start, though. 
 

If you’ve ever wondered why ATIO’s, boosters, etc. are so powerful, now you know. It’s just like how the alpha slot and its +1 level shift, quite possibly the most damaging change to the game made in the Paragon Studios era, came with the launch of the GR expansion. And how tinpex which hilariously broke Paragon Studio’s own stated merit reward formula in turn required an alpha slot unlocked (this requirement has since been removed). 

[Sovera]

On 3/25/2024 at 7:19 PM, Psiphon said:

Hi all, 

I've been playing for a long time but don't really look at builds which may be why I haven't known about 50+ Enhancements. 

When did this happen and what are the details behind them? 

 

 

Mind that they run afoul of ED like every other IO. While people will swear on +5 every single IO the benefits are very shallow since ED makes sure of that. Some IOs can't be +5 like ATOs and event IOs.

 

+5 is useful for a few things though. Two +5 level 50 recharges in Hasten will save one slot there. Frankenslotting bits and bobs and wanting to reach certain goals (accuracy or damage for example) then +5 helps. For example I slot three ATOs in some builds and then my accuracy isn't quite enough to reach the 95% chance to hit +3 so I slot a random accuracy/damage/endurance or recharge to reach my goals and then +5 it to squeeze a few % more.

 

Remember also that most of the time it's better to ensure that IOs are attuned instead of boosted because when attuned the IO bonuses travel with you up and down the level range to the limit of the set. A crafted (or boosted) level 50 is fine for 50, but if we exemplar to anything lower than 47 the bonuses will disappear. But an attuned level 50 can go down to whatever level it can first be exemplared.

 

For example a Luck of the Gambler can be slotted at 22. So an attuned LotG can be slotted at 22 and will grow with us to 50 (something that gives 32% at level 22 will give 42% at level 50), and if we exemplar down to 22 it will still work, but not if 21 (not the bonuses, but the raw stats will still be there). A crafted/boosted LotG can be slotted at 22 but the raw stats it gives at that level will never change.

 

You can check the boosted effects in Mids. When you are picking your IO and before you click on it you press + five times to increase its boosted level, then you click on the specific IO.

Edited March 27 by Sovera

[tidge]

In addition to "classic" franken-slotting (mixing Enhancement pieces from different sets, so there are no set bonuses to be had), I will occasionally use boosted (rather than attuned) pieces of sets when I don't particularly feel the need for the set bonus across all content.

 

Some examples: I will use attuned Luck of the Gambler Defense/Global Recharge, and every once in a while there is a Defensive power that will get a second slot... I don't find the +10% to Regeneration 2-piece set bonus to be that useful for all content, so the second piece will be a 50+5 from the set (if I'm not using a Hami-O). I'll get the bonus for extreme high-level content, and boosted values of Defense (or Defense/Recharge, or Defense/Endurance) at lower levels.

 

Another example: Every once in a while I am using multiple pieces of an Enhancement set that has a level range that tops out at level 30. If the set bonus isn't that critical at lower levels, those types of sets will get boosted, especially if Enhancement Diversification isn't factoring into the power.